The senior national team of Nigeria had their first training session in Cameroon following their arrival for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations which starts on the 9th of January.

Training was held at the lush green VSTS-Annex of Roumde Adjo stadium in  Garoua, the city where the Nigerian team will be based for all of their group games which starts with a game against Egypt on the 11th of January.

Interim coach of the team Austine Eguavoen started the session by splitting them into a group of four with his assistants Paul Aigbogun, Salisu Yusuf and Joseph Yobo handling various groups for warm up drills.

Goalkeeper’s coach of the team Alloy Agu later took the four goalkeppers namely Francis Uzoho, Daniel Akpeyi, Maduka Okoye and John Noble for a special drill, which from what we say is same as the usual drill in Abuja.

After the tactical drills, the players had a mini test match among themselves with coach Eguavoen supervising. It was a session involving defenders and attackers and it lasted for an hour.

During the test match, Samuel Chukwueze came out top with his dazzling runs and close ball control proving to be a menace against the defenders he was up against. Other players who did well include Wilfred Ndidi, Moses Simon, Chidozie Awaziem and Sadiq Umar.

The president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick has given his word of assurance to incoming coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro that his salaries won’t be an issue.

NFF have had issues in settling salaries of past coach and still owe former coach of the team Gernot Rohr around three months salaries aside the fact that he will be entitled to earn his salary for the remaining part of his contract.

Players of the Super Eagles are also owed match bonuses with captain of the team Ahmed Musa confirming that they are yet to be paid their bonus for two of the games during the course of the World Cup qualifiers.

Per the above issues, there have been talks about how the Federation will offset the payment of salaries of newly appointed coach Jose Peseiro, who will take over from interim coach Austine Eguavoen immediately after the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

Pinnick has allayed such fears by explaining that they are putting plans in place to help offset the debts owed to former coach Rohr as well as the salary for his successor Peseiro who will begin work in March.

”We’re working on having other sponsors who will be responsible for his salaries. This way, there will be a warehouse for his salaries. Gernot Rohr’s outstanding debts will be cleared in the next 10 days. There’s not going to be any friction between us concerning his entitlements. What we are sure is that the new coach will not be owed a dime, at least, for the next six months”, he explained.

Interim coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Austine Eguavoen has named the two players he wanted as replacement for Al Shabab forward Odion Ighalo in his 2021 Africa Cup of Nations squad.

Ighalo is yet to be released by his Saudi Arabia team with Nigeria set to start their campaign at the 2021 AFCON against Egypt on the 11th of January. The club is insisting that his contract bars him from representing Nigeria at international level.

Eguavoen said he already picked two players to replace the AFCON 2019 highest goal scorer but CAF rules which says players in the final squad can only be replaced on account of injury stopped him.

He said he already had Nasarawa United forward Silas Nwankwo or Hammarby winger Akinkumi Amoo in his mind as replacement but couldn’t add either of them due to the rule. He is however hopeful that they will be a fair ending to the Ighalo saga.

“We spoke, we exchanged text messages and from his response he is doing everything possible to come by. I thought of replacing him. I gave a deadline and tried to bring in either the boy from Nasarawa United Silas Nwankwo. He is a good player no doubt because it’s striker for striker and also Akinkumi Amoo but he is not a striker but again can play off the striker”, he explained

“So I thought of replacing Ighalo with any of them but what they are saying, CAF is saying is only base on injury, health reasons that’s the only way you can replace players.

“So that was what was holding us back but the Federation is putting all efforts way out from here. The young man Odion is also doing his best from there. Hopefully we will get a positive answer. So if it wasn’t for the rules that says it has to be on medical grounds otherwise you can’t replace somebody. Maybe we would have just told him Odion you know what. We don’t want you to go through that“, he concluded.

The senior national team of Nigeria will tomorrow take on Cameroon side Coton Sport in a friendly game ahead of their first game at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations against Egypt on the 11th of January.

Interim coach of the Nigerian team Austine Eguavoen will use the game to fine tune preparations with an idea on how players will react to his methods as he hasn’t handled them in any game before.

After less than three days training with his his full squad, it’s easy to see how the coach intends to use the players at his disposal plus the likely formation for tomorrow’s game.

Per what OwnGoalNigeria.com witnessed at their training session, Eguavoen will likely line up the players in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Sadiq Umar and Chidera Ejuke coming into the team in attack and midfield respectively.

Below is how we think they will line up tomorrow.

Maduka Okoye
Ola Aina
Zaidu Sanusi
Kenneth Omeruo
William Troost Ekong
Wilfred Ndidi
Chidera Ejuke
Moses Simon
Alex Iwobi
Kelechi Iheanacho
Sadiq Umar

The recent decision of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to appoint Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro as the coach of the senior national team of Nigeria has been termed a bad move by Jose Pedro Pais.

Peseiro was announced by the NFF as the substantive coach of the Nigerian team on a short term basis which will see him replace interim manager Austine Eguavoen after the African Cup of Nations.

He will take charge of the Nigerian team for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers which will be played in March over two legs. He will however be at the Africa Cup of Nations as an observer.

Speaking to Breaking the Line audio Podcast. Jose Pedro Pais,  a Boavista fan and TV commentator said the appointment is nothing to be excited about as Peseiro is a poor coach who hasn’t lasted a season at any club the past ten years.

Pais insist Nigerians shouldn’t be excited over his appointment as he hasn’t proved himself to be a good coach per his recent appointment and to him, he is a poor coach base on the manner of his exit from the teams he has handled the last ten years, most recently Venezuela.

“Peseiro is a well known manager, person in Portugal. He’s been here for a long time, he is 61 I think , I don’t think he has much more to offer that we don’t already know but still. I must confess I was quite surprised, is there is something that still surprise me today at soccer is that we know managers can change according to age and system. If they have a good agent they can go everywhere in spite of the bad work they have done recently”, he said.

“I checked up his recent background because I wasn’t following. I haven’t heard a lot about him for the past years and I just remembered and he is not a manager that I really appreciate and I don’t think he is quite good actually and I don’t think he has done an entire season in a team for the past ten years. He was in Sporting, he was in Victoria, he was in Saudi Arabia, Braga, Porto but still for the very best ten years he didn’t finish one entire season. Which means that he is not that good.

“I don’t think he is the kind of manager that can go through this wave of good coaches that Portugal has. There is a quite of a fashion thing about coaches. It’s a trend about Portuguese coaches , I don’t think he finds himself inside this wave. Therefore I don’t think there is much to expect from him. Venezuela was his last work. He only got one victory in ten games. I think that’s a really bad record. He left to Venezuela at August. He said that he had 14 months without collecting salary which is not exactly the same thing when you coaching a club or country”, he further stressed.

“It’s completely different of course but I don’t see any good record recently not even recently, the last ten years at a team. So I don’t see how he can go very well but still Nigeria has a very nice team with players like Chidozie (Awaziem) from Boavista and also from Portugal soccer Zaidu (Sanusi) and also other big players like Osimhen (Victor). Ndidi (Wilfred) Iwobi (Alex) and many others.

“So I have seen that he is going to only manage the team after AFCON. So I think his success depends on the expectations on his job, on his performance and also this expectations will depend on how much success Nigeria is at this AFCON but still if I was a Nigerian supporter. I won’t be very excited at this moment about his appointment”, he concluded.

Al Shabab are currently facing a battle on their hand in their bid to keep Nigerian forward Odion Ighalo from representing Nigeria at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

Ighalo was named in the Super Eagles squad for the tournament but Al Shabab insist his contract has a clause that says he won’t play international football for Nigeria.

As at when he was signed, he has quit international football but after talks with coach Gernot Rohr he rescinded his decision and played in their final World Cup qualifiers group game.

Thinking the issue is a thing of the past, he was geared up for AFCON duties only to be reminded by Al Shabab that he can’t go per his contract terms. That move hasn’t gone down well with him and he has reportedly gone on strike.

Reports in Saudi Arabia claim the forward hasn’t trained for two days telling the club that he is not in the right frame of mind to train as the drag over his release for the AFCON goes on.

The president of the Nigeria Football Federation Amaju Pinnick has all but confirmed that Al Shabab of Saudi Arabia forward Odion Ighalo won’t be a part of the Super Eagles squad for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

Ighalo made the final 28 man list of the senior national team of Nigeria for the tournament but his Saudi Arabia side are claiming that he has a clause in his deal that forbids him from playing international football.

They insist if he goes to the tournament it will be in breach of the big money deal he signed with them. Overall his departure will hurt their chances of lifting the league title for the first time in their history.

Presently placed second on the league table, Ighalo is their top scorer with ten goals in 16 games this season. Their refusal has made many to ask the NFF to take the case to FIFA and compel them to release Ighalo particularly as he is keen on representing Nigeria.

According to Pinnick, that won’t be the case as it will cause bad blood between the player and the club.”We will not report Al Shabab to FIFA Over their refusal to release Odion Ighalo for AFCON because it won’t help the player” – The NFF President Amaju Pinnick says.

Players of the senior national team of Nigeria will later today leave Abuja for Cameroon where they will take part in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

Interim coach of the team Austine Eguavoen named 28 players for the tournament but per reports gathered by the editorial team of OwnGoalNigeria.com, the team will travel with 23 players including the four goalkeppers.

The duo of Tyrone Ebuehi and Jamilu Collins will join the rest of the team in Cameroon same as Odion Ighalo if he succeeds in his quest to get his team Al Shabab to release him.

Captain of the team Ahmed Musa we exclusively gathered won’t be a part of the travelling party by 8pm Nigerian time. As at the time of this report no concrete reason has been given for his non Inclusion in the travel party.

Musa has been in the camp for three days and took part in all of their training during the period but reports has it that he left camp few hours ago hence won’t be a part of the team for the trip.

The squad number of players of the Super Eagles of Nigeria for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations has been revealed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

Per a post on their official account on social media, most senior players hanged on to their regular shirt numbers including Tyrone Ebuehi who stuck to the number 21 shirt that he wore at the 2018 World Cup.

Kelechi Nwakali will play his first senior national team tournament for Nigeria wearing jersey number 25, the club number of his mentor Kanu Nwankwo for the majority of his career although he uses jersey number 4 for Nigeria back then.

1.Maduka Okoye
2.Ola Aina
3.Jamilu Collins
4.Wilfred Ndidi
5.William Troost Ekong
6.Semi Ajayi
7.Ahmed Musa
8.Frank Onyeka
9.Odion Ighalo
10.Joe Aribo
11. Henry Onyekuru
12. Zaidu Sanusi
13. Chidera Ejuke
14. Kelechi Iheanacho
15. Moses Simon
16. Daniel Akpeyi
17. Samuel Chukwueze
18. Alex Iwobi
19. Taiwo Awoniyi
20. Chidozie Awaziem
21. Tyrone Ebuehi
22. Kenneth Omeruo
23. Francis Uzoho
24. Sadiq Umar
25. Kelechi Nwakali
26. Olisa Ndah
27. John Noble
28. Peter Olayinka

The training of the senior national team of Nigeria ahead of the start of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations came alive yesterday with 23 players taking part.

Interim coach of the team Austine Eguavoen was on hand to supervise the session alongside his technical staff for the over two hours that the entire training lasted at the Moshood Abiola stadium.

OwnGoalNigeria.com picks five players who excelled during the course of the training yesterday.

Kelechi Iheanacho – He was very sharp all through and clinical in front of goal. Finished top during a drill on goal scoring. Scored twice during the test match and once when the pitch was halved. His well taken penalty also handed his team the win after a tie.

Sadiq Umar – Opponents of the Super Eagles will find it difficult to contain the lanky forward. He used his height and physical attributes very well against defenders. Scored a hattrick after struggling during the shooting drills. His old fashioned striker kind of play made him a handful for William Troost Ekong and Kenneth Omeruo.

Moses Simon – Looks certain to start against Egypt on the left wing on the strength of his performance yesterday. Strong, quick and very direct when on the ball. Semi Ajayi struggled to get close to him. He appears to have also struck a good combination with Zaidu Sanusi on the left.

Frank Onyeka – He didn’t stop running from the start to the end of the session. Mopped every ball available and by our count won more balls than any other player during the session. He will surely play a pivotal role for Nigeria at the tournament.

Daniel Akpeyi – For the two sessions we have seen so far. He is the best goalkepper in camp. So far he has impressed with his reflexes, ball distribution, handling and also stopping shots during shooting drills. Came battle ready to wrestle the number one spot from Maduka Okoye.